The 2007 harvest is underway. As I've written about this year, we've had a relatively unusual year for weather, with a very cold, dry winter delaying the beginning of budbreak and flowering, and then a remarkably moderate summer, with few days over 100 and no extended cold spells. It's been alternating weather patterns, with a week at a time of warm, seasonable weather (days in the mid-90s, nights in the upper 50s) and then a cooler week (days in the 80s, nights in the upper 40s to lower 50s). These relatively moderate conditions have combined with the drought to encourage many producers here to look forward to 2007 as a potentially top vintage. We'll see.

So far, we've begun the harvest with Viognier on August 27th. Bob Haas, at left, holds up one of the first Viognier clusters outside the winery. Also the week of August 27th, we did a cherry pick of the Roussanne from the top on one hill, and began the harvest of the Chardonnay for our "Antithesis" Chardonnay. Yields, as others in the region are reporting, have been down. Our Chardonnay crop was a little more than half what we saw in 2006, but intensity has been excellent.

The week of September 3rd, we brought in the rest of our Viognier, as well as a little Grenache Blanc and the first big chunk of our Syrah (all of our "A" and "D" clones). The Syrah "C" clone, which we believe is our highest quality clone, is still out in the vineyard. The photo below is of a cluster ripening outside the winery.

With the lower yields, we've decided not to make any Vin de Paille white dessert wines this year. It's just too big a cost in production, and we want to make sure to protect the dry wines which are our core focus.

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Harvest 2007 Begins!

The 2007 harvest is underway. As I've written about this year, we've had a relatively unusual year for weather, with a very cold, dry winter delaying the beginning of budbreak and flowering, and then a remarkably moderate summer, with few days over 100 and no extended cold spells. It's been alternating weather patterns, with a week at a time of warm, seasonable weather (days in the mid-90s, nights in the upper 50s) and then a cooler week (days in the 80s, nights in the upper 40s to lower 50s). These relatively moderate conditions have combined with the drought to encourage many producers here to look forward to 2007 as a potentially top vintage. We'll see.

So far, we've begun the harvest with Viognier on August 27th. Bob Haas, at left, holds up one of the first Viognier clusters outside the winery. Also the week of August 27th, we did a cherry pick of the Roussanne from the top on one hill, and began the harvest of the Chardonnay for our "Antithesis" Chardonnay. Yields, as others in the region are reporting, have been down. Our Chardonnay crop was a little more than half what we saw in 2006, but intensity has been excellent.

The week of September 3rd, we brought in the rest of our Viognier, as well as a little Grenache Blanc and the first big chunk of our Syrah (all of our "A" and "D" clones). The Syrah "C" clone, which we believe is our highest quality clone, is still out in the vineyard. The photo below is of a cluster ripening outside the winery.

With the lower yields, we've decided not to make any Vin de Paille white dessert wines this year. It's just too big a cost in production, and we want to make sure to protect the dry wines which are our core focus.